


breath

by jayhood



Series: Soulmates AU [1]
Category: Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: All Caste (DCU), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, New 52, Soul Swords, Soulmates, The League of Assassins (DCU), The Untitled (DCU) - Freeform, Well of Sins arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:54:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23863360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jayhood/pseuds/jayhood
Summary: You can't harm yourself with a blade made from your own soul.
Relationships: Ra's al Ghul/Jason Todd
Series: Soulmates AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719688
Comments: 6
Kudos: 87





	breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dnky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dnky/gifts).



> Shout-out to dn-ky for making this fic possible, you continue to be huge inspiration for me.

It's a ridiculous ploy, Ra's thinks. How Talia could even think that would work: placing a figurehead as a leader of the League when the Untitled are right at their gates. Honestly, he was disappointed. But not surprised. It wasn't the first time she used this particular man for her ends.

What did she see in him?

“You are the one Talia chose to lead them?  _ Truly _ ?” he asks, not trying to mask his contempt. 

No matter Ra’s own plan. Seeing someone taking his rightful place is an offense that cuts surprisingly deep. So, yes, contempt. And it’s not only him who is deserving it, after all. His army is all too willing to listen. What an insult! For it’s Ra’s' army, the one he built as well as 'Eth Alth'eban, to protect it. To protect the world.

Well, the world is a little past the mark where it’s expedient to protect it. Ra’s lived too long for sentiment to stop him. If he needs to burn it all to the ground, kill every and any one of them, be it.

Or maybe just one. Just this one man and the others will fall in line as they did before. They aren’t unloyal, they just need to be shown who to give their loyalties to. 

The only question is to do it before Ra’s immerses himself into the Well of Sins, or after. After, he decides, looking at him. Allow him to... fight another day.

Never let it be said that Ra’s al Ghul entirely without mercy. 

“Fly away, little bird,” he says, moving forward. “Your part here is over.”

And how wonderfully did he play it. All the Untitled are either powerless now, or dead. Ra’s’ treacherous daughter, without knowing, played just right in his hand. Too bad that after taking a dip into the magic well he will have to destroy it, lest the fate of the Untitled will be his. Ra’s won’t ever have an opportunity to revive her, just so she would see her failure. 

The man is quick to figure out what Ra’s is planning. He shoots: “Don’t let him touch the waters!”. But it’s moot now. There is no one close enough to stop Ra’s, and even if there was...

He re-emerges. The waters, neither warm nor cool, drop from him, from his heavy clothes. He shakes off his cloak. Smiles down at him.

The man gives a halt sign. Everyone stops their approach, wary. 

“Who are you?” the man asks. 

Ra’s doesn’t think he is very interested in the answer. Will the name even tell him anything, after what Ducra must have done to his mind? No; he is trying to drag it out. To gauge Ra’s weak spots. Ra’s laughs, explaining what he has done to get to this point when he became a god. Whyever not? It won’t help him any.

Should have run when Ra’s gave him a warning. Such a waste. He seems pretty.

He finds himself looking for the best way to subdue the man, not harming the face. It would be just so much more pleasant to look at it when he dies, that's all. He's reveling in this anticipation when he makes the command to his assassins to attack the man's friends. 

But his daydreams cost him: the man jumps into the Well of Sins and emerges, shining white.

The raw power radiates from him. And the man looks so peaceful, so self-assured, it's, to be honest, even better.

It's even better to quickly overpower him and bring him to his knees. Because yes, the power of the Well of Sins is great, but what is power if you don't have any understanding of how to wield it? The man remembers nothing of Ducra's teachings, nothing useful from his past with the Detective: only reflexes. And they don't save him now.

"So what are you saying, Jason?" Ra's takes him by his hair, letting the strands between his fingers.

He never felt so alive before. The powers of the Well must be amplifying everything. He can't remember when such a simple touch felt so good.

A shame, really.

"Is it the time?" he asks, regretfully.

Jason repeats, louder.

"I want to remember." He doesn't look at Ra's when he says it. His eyes on his friends only, and Ra's tightens his grip, but to no effect. "I got rid of my memories because they hurt too much. They made me a bad person. No.  _ I _ was a bad person. And remembering it hurt. But I'm going to die anyway. And they are going to die too, because of me, because they thought I was worth saving. It's the least I could do for them. It's... a thing I want the most."

He squeezes his eyes, and his body shudders.

Ra's is no poet. But he recognizes the moment when the action would make the most impact, and he drives his soul blade into the body before him, just as the last wish of Jason Todd comes true. Only a moment too late.

He shoves him away and looks around, at his yet again loyal soldiers. And the rest of them, soon to be dead. He wants the horror in their eyes, the recognition of what he had done just now. He craves it. 

Only nobody meets his eyes. All of them - all! - look at Jason Todd.

He quickly looks back.

Jason Todd, a soul blade of his own in hand, grins back.

"Performance issues, huh? I heard it happens, with age."

Ra's is swift with his sword, now. But Todd is not there, suddenly. He dropped to the ground and rolled away and now he's on his feet, again. He grins, cheeky, and makes a gesture at Ra's: come on.

But Ra's notices the frown as well. Memories that had returned to him enabled him to use the arcane arts of All Acres, but, oh, fool. There was a reason why Ducra was afraid of letting him use the power of the Well like that. He should be a quick enough kill, still.

Only, Ra's thinks. Only Ducra thought him having a pure soul would be enough to wield the power successfully, and that's why she purged it of the burden of remembrance. If she was wrong about that, what else she was wrong about?

Ra's' heart beats a little faster.

And - it's good. It is not fear that makes his breath come faster. It's, Ra's is surprized to identify, excitement. Something he felt only in his first few lifetimes. When it still felt like there are stakes. Like whether he won or lost mattered.

He licks his lips, not really in a hurry to strike Jason Todd down anymore.

"What?" Jason asks. "Too shy all of sudden. Are you worried that you're just going to have a little equipment malfunction again? In front of the audience, too."

He tsks. Ra's chooses his next steps carefully. Jason Todd moves in tandem with him, in the opposite direction.

"Ah, my little dead bird," he says. "I do not believe there is anything wrong with my weapon."

He strikes, sudden. No one, no matter their reflexes, would be able to dodge it.

The Man-Bat, who was standing just a touch too close to the circle where Ra's and Jason Todd were having their little dance, falls down, in two pieces. The blood on the Ra's' soul sword hisses, disappearing. 

The rest of them take a hint and give them space, dragging themselves, prisoners and bodies out of the way.

Jason's nostrils flare. But he doesn't make a move. Ra's supposes it was a long shot. Should have killed one of his friends, but they were too far away. The timing would be off.

"You, by all accounts, should be dead. Again. And you are not. Again. The reason why escapes me, still. So  _ tell _ me," Ra's says. He takes a step forward. Jason Todd stands his ground. "What is wrong with  _ you _ ?"

"Oh, you know. Your regular daddy issues, and a whole lot more," Todd says. Like it's humourous, making fun of himself. Who taught him that? "What are you going to do about it?"

"So kind of you to ask," Ra's says and attacks.

He runs at Todd, the Well making the square feet between them feel like inches. Todd brings his own blade up. Ra's drinks in the look on his face. It's at it most beautiful just before he dies, isn't it?

It knocks Ra's off his feet.

No, not Todd's face! He shakes his head to clear it.

The impact of their swords meeting - by all accounts, Ra's is far more stronger and experienced, and he was under the influence of the Well longer. His hit should have been enough to overpower Todd. Only, they both are on the ground, now, thrown apart by the shockwave.

They are breathing hard, both. Todd grins at him. 

"Things just don't go your way today, old man, do they?"

Ra's clatches his sword. It would be a great pleasure to impale Todd on it.

He says as much.

Todd waves him away.

"Promises, promises." Todd stands, at ease. 

He disintegrated his sword, though. It can mean only that he is tired already. Ra's makes his move - the fool doesn't even have time to throw his hands up. Just lets Ra's put the blade through him.

Ra's pulls it back.

Jason Todd grins.

There are no blood and incentives, vaporizing under the heat of Ra's soulfire. 

"Noticed already?" Todd asks. 

For someone who should be dead and isn't, again, damn it, he doesn't look well. His grin is strained, and his gaze is too focused on Ra's. Like there's something around them that compels his attention that much more, and only a great amount of willpower makes Todd stay on focus.

"Father," there's a voice behind Ra's, a voice that could not be: she's dead. Betrayer, betrayed. He won't look. He allows himself a moment of weakness only, closing his eyes. "Father! Look out!"

Ra's - it's unexpected, to hear those words from her, from Talia - turns. And receives a punch in his ear from Todd.

Ra's loses his footing. Falls down. No. He grapples for Todd's foot, taking him to the ground too. Their fight is plebeian, undignified; using fists and legs and their whole bodies like they are some kind of ape. Primal. Ra's allows it: no matter how often he uses soul blade on Todd, it does not take, and he doesn't carry any other weapon currently.

Besides, it feels novel enough, after the centuries without something as simple and pleasurable. After decades without the feel of another person under his touch at all. It invigorates him. 

He quickly overpowers Todd, rolling them so he would be looking down at him when he simply strangles him.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Todd says. "Why we can't use All Blades on each other?"

It's not a grin anymore; it's a grimace. Like he is going to tell an anecdote even he himself finds distasteful.

"Because the Well of Sins made as... too powerful for that," Ra's says, swallowing the word "equal". 

Todd seems stunned by his theory. What? What did he mean, then?

"That's one theory," Todd says. And moves.

It's a move that Ra's should have foreseen and prevented. It's a move that he taught to Talia, once, when she was a mere child. How, if you are trapped under the body of assailant who is larger and stronger, to use his mass against him, leverage it - and threw him off.

But Ra's is trying so hard to block her off, it... impaired him. He flies - right to the well, again, and into the waters.

This time, though, he feels it. The weight of sins of the whole world, dragging him down. Freezing him, burning him alive. 

The powers are leaving his body, he realizes. And he tries to break the surface, but something, someone, Talia, Nyssa, numerous others, they are all around, floating beside him, pulling him to the bottom.

He is going to die. He is going to die, how ever he fights it, he is going to die, and he won't ever complete his mission.

"Fool," voices of his children hiss, of his pupils, of his servants and slaves. "Liar. You were not saving the world for a long time now."

Talia's shining white face appears before him. She takes his head into her hands.

"It shouldn't have been like this," she whispers, "you should not have been like this."

She looks sad. Ra's doesn't think he ever saw her sad, ever, in all her life.

"You just didn't want to see," Nyssa sinks her claws into him. "You never cared about anyone than yourself. Your mission was a lie, a power grab, a decoration thrown at your sadistic and perverse soul."

A man appears who looks like Ra's had, once upon a time, maybe, but all white, like ghosts of his daughters. 

"I bet you even forgot why you started it all, did you? Betraying your allies. Letting the Untitled into the sacred city. So remember! Feel it!"

And Ra's does.

By all powers on this Earth and beyond it, he does.

He screams; it's not from pain. It's anguish. The feeling of betrayal: and this time, the guilty is him. He betrayed everything he stood for. He  _ should  _ die.

"It doesn't have to be like this," Talia whispers, her hands on his shoulders, and he tries to shake it off.

Only her hands are also still touching his face.

He is confused. He fights it.

"Please," Talia says. "Stop fighting it. Make things right. It doesn't have to end like this!"

Doesn't it?

In the end, the choice is not his. He's too weak to struggle with that pull that drags him away from the children he wronged so much.

He loses his consciousness. 

He wakes up on the hard ground, coughing and shaking of cold.

His chest hurts. Maybe ribs are bruised.

Todd snaps his fingers right at his face, and however weak Ra's is, he still has it in him to bite.

"Ouch!" Todd says, snatching his hand away. "Yeah, I told them it's a bad idea. But Essence here to seal the Well away again. And she thought it was somehow unethical to leave you to drawn there for eternity."

"You?" Ra's can't believe it. 

But it's true. There's no tell-tale aura of  _ power _ around Todd anymore. He seems lighter, somehow, and just as the same irreverent little pest as usual.

Todd looks down at him.

"So, you still haven't figured it out," he says. He looks relieved. "Alright. That's our cue to leave. Don't bother sending your assassins after me and my friends. I think you will find it's not going to work, anyway."

Ra's looks up and sees his servants - Shiva on the ground, Tiger helping the archer to stand, Rictus talking with the alien, Graystone helping Essence and Cheshire, nowhere to be seen.

Todd smirks at him.

"I think you have a bit of PR problem, after your latest show. Not what they bought their tickets for, you know?"

Ra's closes his eyes and lets his head fall to the ground with a soft thump. Yes, indeed. He promised them all a purpose more important than any of their lives, that's why they were so willing to sacrifice it if needed.

"But," Todd says. "It doesn't, you know, have to be like this. As long as people are alive, they can change. In theory. It's not something I ever put great hopes into, though, so let me tell you, if you don't? I will find you. And, if you do, and if you ever figure it out... I'm sure you can find  _ me _ ."

He leaves, presumably taking his friends as well.

Ra's doesn't care at the moment. The fight made him feel so young, but right now, after, he feels all the years he lived and then some. He does not have any energy in him to contemplate whatever Todd meant.

Figure out what? The only thing he does not understand yet (because yes, he needs to change, and shape of a new plan how to move forward makes itself known in his brain) is why Ra's couldn't kill Todd using All Blades. It is, after all, the most powerful weapon, that slays even interdimensional monsters. Slaughtered the Untitled, too, those soul swords. Maybe there is something special in Jason Todd, after all.

Only, Todd was unable to harm Ra's with his soul blades as well.

Oh.

_ Oh _ .

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://redjaybathood.tumblr.com/), or if you want to check out the alternative take on Soulmates AU with different characters i'm still working on


End file.
